


(240)

by aestheticisms (R_Vienna)



Category: Ensemble Girls! (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F, Recreational Drug Use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-26
Updated: 2017-04-26
Packaged: 2018-10-24 05:02:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10734648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/R_Vienna/pseuds/aestheticisms
Summary: Hajime pauses. "Is this what they call "four twenty" festivities?"The living goddess is a stranger to what people do for fun.





	(240)

**Author's Note:**

> this is a well-written weed joke with no punchline

It's not completely unusual to find the drama club together outside of club activities. Despite the inner turmoil within Kimisaki Academy's pristine hallways, it wasn't weird, or anything.

At least, that was the case in high school. A year after the fact, in Chizuru Yakumo's elegant western style living room, it was a little weird. Hajime Kodama tucks a strand of dark hair behind her head and gives Yako a side long glance. The blonde sighs, and returns her curious look with something wry. Despite the changing of the seasons, Chika Tohmi’s permanent scowl scowl in Yako Konan’s presence has not budged an inch. It’s funny to think about, Hajime covers her mouth with a manicured hand and giggles softly. The youngest girl’s glare intensifies, but she doesn’t say anything. Instead, she busies herself with her phone, her thumbs fly over the digital keyboard, and she amuses herself with being popular somewhere, anywhere, aside from here.

Chizuru comes back, except this time she holding a silver tray. It’s decorated with cute serving plates, one for each person in attendance. On top, there are brownie slices, delicately cut into shapes. Each plate is meant for someone specific. Chizuru wears self satisfaction so well, it’s terribly endearing. She smiles with her teeth, and her eyes sparkle.

“Oy! Chizuru, seriously? You really went all out for some weed brownies.”

Hajime blinks.

Eh?

“I apologize, I must have heard incorrectly. I know that weed is the… _street_ _term_ for the medicinal herb ‘ _marijuana_ ’. What does that have to do with the wonderful pastries that Chizuru-chan has baked for us?”

Chika drops her phone, it lands on her lap with the screen facing up. Her charms jingle during the descent, and then, are silenced by the folds of her skirt.

“You didn’t _tell_ her?”

Yako scratches the back of her head, it’s a nervous habit that Hajime has only recently noticed. Yako does a rather good job at hiding any sort of insecurity, but when they spill out, they had a tendency to manifest physically. Hajime crosses her legs at the knee, and tilts her head. Her long hair tumbles to the side, and Yako finally sighs. She pushes up her glasses on the bridge of her nose, and Chizuru and Chika wait for an explanation. The drama club president is left speechless. There’s nothing she can say to remedy the situation, and it’s obvious to everyone but Hajime, who furrows her brow.

“Is this gathering,” she gestures to the dimly lit living room, “what they call “four twenty” festivities?”

“Kimisaki’s goddess knows about four-twenty but doesn’t know what a weed brownie is.” Chika barks out a laugh, clutching at her sides. Her stomach was going to hurt at this rate, Hajime wants to warn her, Chizuru beats her to it.

“Chika, don’t be rude. I told Yako to inform Hajime-san about the situation, but that obviously didn’t happen.” She throws Yako a scathing glare, and Yako raises her hands up in defeat.

“How was I supposed to tell her? 'We’re about to partake in an illegal activity, make sure to wear the cutest dress you own'?”

“Maybe! Or you could’ve told her to eat before hand. Have you eaten, Hajime-san?”

Hajime nods pleasantly. She smiles. “Of course! Ichika-chan made sure that I ate before Yako picked me up.”

Chika takes her brownie off the plate, leaving the tray empty. It’s shaped like butterfly. The initial excitement gone, she starts to eat. Chizuru sighs, and plops down on the couch next to her. She sips from her teacup like it was perfectly normal to do so. Hajime assumes it is, but she has no experience with any of this, and Yako won’t meet her gaze. She must be trying to think of something cool to say.

“If you don’t want to, it’s fine.”

It's not really cool at all, but Hajime smiles anyway. She leans against Yako’s shoulder, and nestles against her knit sweater.

“Maybe if you show me the proper procedure, it will be fine?”

Chizuru snorts. Chika makes a gagging noise. Out of the drama club, Yako was the only one with a stable enough relationship, if whatever she had with Hajime could be called such. Hajime liked Yako a lot, she really did! Yako was cool, smart, and beautiful. She was also kind of an idiot, and talked too loud during their new year's shrine visit, which didn’t win her any points with her parents.

Ah, how sad, really.

“There’s really no procedure for these things. You just eat it.” Yako tears off a piece of her brownie, shaped like a megaphone. Hajime sees Yako about to open her mouth, probably to make some sort of retort or comment about the choice in design, but she decides to keep it to herself.

“I tried to make yours a fox. Er, at least the head shape. It looks kind of bad.” Chizuru’s confidence from earlier plummets, for whatever reason. Hajime does not understand why she would be so pressed to make cute designs, when according to Yako, they were just going to eat them.

Hajime carefully picks up the treat, and bites off the fox’s ear.

“Oh!”

Yako raises a brow.

“Everything okay?”

She asks while wrapping an arm around Hajime’s shoulder, pulling her closer.

"It tastes a lot like chocolate. I thought it would taste more like grass.”

“You really don’t go out much, do you?” Chika asks, her tone incredulous.

“Hajime-san, you don’t use actual leaves…” Chizuru is about to go into the fine details, Hajime is interested in knowing more but Yako waves her hand. Chizuru pouts, and twirls a strand of pink hair around her index finger.

“So…how long does this take, normally?”

Chika shrugs, she’s already lying down on the loveseat she’s supposed to be sharing with Chizuru. She props her feet on the other side, her legs over Chizuru’s lap. Their host twitches.

“You’re a newbie, so maybe longer than usual? Or faster? IDK what it was.”

"Thanks for always being so helpful.”

“Not like you offered anything, stupid Yako.”

Yako strokes Hajime’s back, and scowls. Hajime gets comfortable on the couch, she tucks her legs in and eats her brownie dutifully.

“Will I get the ' _munchies'_?”

“Why do you know so much about weed practices but not, like, about weed. This is kind of sad.”

Hajime shrugs, she finishes up her brownie and examines her cuticles. “I don’t know. I read a lot.”

Chizuru and Chika look at each other, and then at Yako. Yako returns their accusatory stares with an “ _I don’t know, don’t ask me, I just found out my girlfriend wasn’t actually a living goddess a year ago so please don’t ask me any actual questions about her_ ”.

“Do you think Yako got anything for Valentine’s?”

“Maybe a complimentary souvenir from the Kodama shrine?”

“That’s worse than getting store bought chocolates.”

Chizuru and Chika stage-whisper, and overreact to Yako’s stare. Hajime’s engrossed by her nails. What was the last time she got a manicure? Oh. She got one a couple of days ago. Did she already bite her nails, then? When did that happen. Hmm. How interesting. She keeps nibbling at the brownie while Yako taps her fingers against her spine. It’s a soft feeling, it’s kind and familiar. Yako used to be so distant. A lone wolf. Both of them were ostracized from class activities, they know solitude and wear it well. Hajime was elevated to the status of god, and Yako, well. In dreams she is an elegant phantom thief, but the reality was a little more straightforward. Stubborn to a fault, really, a horrible perfectionist. Yako’s over the top personality was a fault for many, but Hajime adored it. At least, she really enjoyed it when they were not supposed to be praying.

“Don’t tell me she’s going to fall asleep.” Chika deadpans, and Chizuru waves her hands around.

“She hasn’t even, like finished it? Like…? Yako, is she okay?”

Yako blinks, and then looks down to her lap, where Hajime rested her head.

“Uh, Hajime?”

“You’re very warm, Yako. It’s a pleasant feeling.”

“God, she’s like, a cat. This is unbelievable.”

Chizuru narrates the spectacle while Chika uploads the incriminating evidence to Snapchat.

"Maybe she has a weak constitution?”

“I feel like that’s not how it works.” Yako runs a hand through her hair, and messes up her ponytail in the process.

“Maybe she’s just tired…?”

“This is why you got a souvenir wind chime, stupid Yako.”

Hajime finishes the brownie in between sighs. Yako and Chizuru play "Never Have I Ever" while Chika DJs on Spotify Lite. Every time they hear an advertisement they have to do pushups. It’s an old drama club tradition. Probably. Hajime doesn’t know, but it would make more sense that way.

Eventually they’re all sitting down on the living room floor, watching foreign music videos on Chizuru’s rose gold iPad. Hajime’s still draped over Yako’s lap, and Chizuru’s in the middle. Chika makes Chizuru show everyone her wallpaper. It’s Mitsuru’s latest photoshoot with Reika. No one wants to ask the burning question of _why_. Even when Chizuru was crossfaded at Hotori’s half birthday party four weeks ago, no one could get her to talk about Mitsuru.

It’s a cursed topic. It doesn’t stop people from trying.

“Kali Uchis’s aesthetic is really incredible, if you think about it.” Chika rambles about color theory and set pieces, how designs intertwining the two are truly the best, and Chizuru tilts her head, like, okay, that’s nice, but did you see her eyebrows in that last clip? How did she do that?

Yako stares at the ceiling. Her brownie barely had any weed. She would’ve gotten a better high smoking. This was ridiculous. Hajime tugs at her sleeve.

“Hey, Yako?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think leaves have feelings?”

Chika throws a pillow at her.

“Shut up, Kodama.”

.

Hajime tells them a story about her childhood in the shrine, about the first time Ichika and her made kuchikamisake. The oldest sake in the world, she says. They spent an hour, chewing and spitting out rice. It’s probably still in the shrine, fermenting. That’s kind of gross right? Who would want to drink it? Apparently, it goes for a very high price. Maybe my parents are using the money to fund the shrine? During non-holidays, when we don’t get many visitors?

“I’m sure stupid Yako would drink it.”

Yako pinches Chika’s thigh hard enough to elicit a scream.

“Sorry, but, that sounds like, super fake. They totally didn’t have you do that, right?” Chizuru asks out of horror, mostly. Hajime tilts her head.

“Oh no. It’s very real, Chizuru-chan. Don’t you know? They asked my family for a lot of information when they were making that movie.”

“You mean, they interviewed your family, for that movie?”

Chizuru’s eyes go wide, she leans over to get closer to Hajime. She clutches her pillow, and Hajime claps softly. She’s sitting up now, and Yako makes sure she doesn’t fall over.

“Of course. The Kodama shrine is one of the oldest in the country. It would be rude to not pay a visit.”

Yako glances to the side, and wonders how much Chizuru actually believes. There’s no way any of this was true. First of all, she’s been to Hajime’s house a couple of times already, and the times they weren't sleeping together, she was being used as manual labor. She’s reorganized the shrine dozens of times, fixing chimes and readjusting rope. There’s no secret sake bottle dispensary in the Kodama family shrine. That would be ridiculous, and a little too much for someone who was already regarded as a god amongst men.

“Wow, that’s like, so cool! Hajime-chan, you’re like, a celebrity.”

Hajime nods solemnly.

“Yes, but, it’s important to take into consideration the feelings of others. Make sure to always treat people with respect, Chizuru-chan. Especially leaves.”

She giggles into her hand. Yako sighs, and lets Hajime fall to the side. She lands on a pile of blankets and pillows. There’s nothing to really worry about in the living room. Maybe except for the table. Chizuru already cleared out the tea cups and empty plates.

“I hope she falls asleep soon.”

Chika clears her throat after the fact. “That sounded a lot more threatening than it needed to be, haha, uh.”

Chizuru sighs.

“Help me with the table.”

“Do it yourself.”

Yako pulls a blanket over Hajime’s shoulders, and makes sure her hair isn’t tangled in her arms, or something. Chizuru gets up to pull the table out of the way so that they can all lie down. Eventually, they’ll fall asleep, but Chika still had two hours worth of trance on her playlist, and wasn’t going to let anyone skip out on her favorite rendition of Merimero’s one hit wonder. Hajime’s breaths are soft and quiet, she doesn’t snore. Yako was for once thankful. This turn of events has ensured that she doesn’t have to sleep on Chizuru’s floor, fighting with Chika for blankets, and then hating Chika for snoring. It was truly a blessing.

“Your girlfriend is really, really weird. It’s no wonder she likes you, stupid Yako.”

“Chika, you really need to treat your seniors with more respect.”

Chika crosses her arms over her chest, and she leans against the wall next to the laptop. She acts like she owns the place. It’s a little amusing, but it’s mostly eye roll worthy. She tries to braid her dark hair. It goes well enough, at least, for someone three hours into an edible and just started to feel something.

“I’ll give ya respect when ya deserve it.”

Yako looks at Chizuru, wondering if she’ll say anything in her defense.

“She has a point.”

Why does Yako even bother.

.

Yako’s the last one to go to sleep. It’s late into the evening, and she’s messing with Hajime’s hair. It’s really soft, she makes little braids, and then undoes them all because they’re sloppy and uneven, and there’s nothing more annoying than that. Maybe she should try to get some sleep too, tomorrow she could write a letter of complaint to whoever Chizuru bought the weed from. Knowing her, it was Himari, and Himari probably got some weak stuff from Hotori, because Hotori didn’t like sharing. It’s totally unfair.

“You really are weird.” Yako says this quietly, and Hajime stirs in her sleep. “But, I’m kind of strange, too.”

She puts her glasses on the table, and lies down. She’s peeled off the knit sweater and button down at this point, her flimsy tank top does nothing to counteract the cold. Yako scoots closer to Hajime, close enough to bury her nose in her back, and press a kiss against the nape of her neck.

“If you were cold, you could’ve asked to share a blanket.”

“I didn’t want to wake you up.”

Hajime turns around, so she can face Yako. Her violet eyes are bright, she’s lucid. Her fingertips skim Yako’s cheek, and then her jaw.  Yako pulls the blanket over them, and it’s a quiet return to the static and white noise.

.

When Yako goes to drop off Hajime at the shrine, Ichika is there, waiting for them. She’s wearing a fox onesie, and trying her best to look intimidating. She judges their wrinkled outfits and the lipstick stains on Yako’s collar.

“Next time you take my sister anywhere, I want an itinerary.”

Hajime laughs into her hand, as Yako faces the most dangerous trial of the Kodama shrine.


End file.
